BORN TO RUN:
Springsteen’s autobiography soars to No. 1 on the NY Times bestseller list.

Springsteen reflections on Mike Appel:

Page 169: The bottom line was I liked Mike and I knew he understood what I wanted to do musically. We weren't aiming for a few successful records and some modest hits. We were aiming for impact, for influence, for the top rung of what recording artists are capable of achieving. We both knew rock music was a culture shaper, I wanted to collide with the times and create a voice that had musical, social and cultural impact. Mike understood that this was my goal. In the end, I would have signed Mike's jockey shorts, if he'd presented them to me, to get my foot in the door.

Page 170: The next thing Mike finagled-and I couldn't believe it- was an
audition with John Hammond. John Hammond! The legendary producer
who signed Dylan, Aretha, Billie Holiday-a giant in the recording business.
The motor mouth of Mike Appel was a fierce and surgical instrument when
put to proper use. Mike could've talked Jesus down from the cross, Santa
Claus out of Christmas and Pam Anderson out of breast augmentation.
He talked us off the street and into the inner sanctum of John Hammond's
office. My man was a managerial genius.

Page 258: Along with Jon and Steve, Mike was my musical brother in arms. He knew everything about the great groups, the fabulous hit records, every important nuance of the great singers' voices, the greatest riffs, the heart and soul that were in our favorite music. When we talked, he could finish my sentences. He was a fan with all the beauty and import that word carries for me. Mike was funny, cynical, dreamy and profane, and when you were with him, you were always laughing.

Page 258: We had been someplace special together, someplace unique, a place where we had to depend upon each other and nothing else, where things that meant something were at stake. I could never hate Mike; I can only love him.

The companion album 'Chapter in Verse' has four songs produced by Mike Appel: 'Henry Boy', 'Born to Run','4th of July (Sandy)' and 'Growin' Up' and it is top five in 16 different countries of the world as of January 2017

Why Springsteen never made another album like ‘Born to Run,’ and other questions only Mike Appel can answer The Boss largely stopped pushing music’s boundaries after his epic third album, which happened to be around the time he fell out, spectacularly, with his original manager. Coincidence?
BY DAVID HOROVITZ July 19, 2016

MAKING OF A ROCK STAR'S COVER COUP
Forty years ago, the face of a young Bruce Springsteen — "Rock's New Sensation!" — landed simultaneously on the covers of both Time and Newsweek magazines. With Springsteen's star on the rise following Born to Run, Jay Cocks interviewed him for Time, and Maureen Orth for Newsweek; either cover story alone would have been astounding publicity, but both at once — a first for a rock musician — caused shockwaves. For Springsteen to go, in a year, from fears of being dropped from his label to the covers of both leading national news magazines... you have to chalk it up to not only the strength of Born to Run and his live performances, but to the indefatigable efforts of his Producer / Manager Mike Appel. - READ THE BACKSTREETS INTERVIEW HERE

Mike Appel's radio interview on
Mad Dog Radio SiriusXM on the 40th Anniversary of Born To Run.

Streaming Audio Link SiriusXM - Mad Dog Radio

Mike Appel's radio interview on SiriusXM - E Street Radio on the 40th Anniversary of Born To Run.

Streaming Audio Link SiriusXM - E Street Radio

Bruce Springsteen’s Former Manager Mike Appel Talks ‘Born To Run’ 40th Anniversary.
Bruce Springsteen's former manager joined the Bruce Brunch this past weekend to help celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the historic 'Born To Run' album.

Join your host Rockin' Rich Lynch as he brings you another amazing independent radio show. The show opens with a brand-new track "All Rights Reversed" from the RICH LYNCH BAND. This episode also features great interviews with NILS LOFGREN, MIKE APPEL, KIRK MCFEE, and JULIA OTHMER. Brought to you by the SoundPress.net Radio Network (http://www.soundpress.net) - get in touch with us today if you would like to add this show to your station or syndicate!!!

Mike Appel, who managed Bruce Springsteen and his band from the early- to mid-1970s, calls Clarence “the member of the E Street Band that I was closest to.” Their bond extended to later years, the two men reconnecting long after Appel and Springsteen’s acrimonious post-Born to Run split. In 2011, Mike shared with Clarence his vision of the Big Man entering E Street Heaven: “Can you imagine
me actually saying this to this freaking guy, a week or two before his actual death?”

Mike Appel interviewed by Tom Cunningham on Bruce Brunch 105.7 The Hawk. Mike discusses the 40th anniversary of Springsteen's first 2 album's "Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ" and "The Wild, The Innocent, & The E Street Shuffle"
Click the play button to the right to hear the entire interview. >

... but Springsteen had no experience with record companies or serious recording studios. He was also at a crossroads in his career. Although he’d had local success, he was unsure of his future direction. He signed a management contract as a solo artist with Mike Appel, who encouraged him to develop his songwriting, in hopes of possibly having Springsteen emerge in the popular singer-songwriter mold.

THE GEOGRAPHY OF OUR YOUTH
The first Backstreets talk with former Springsteen manager Mike Appel in more than 20 years. Interview by Eric Meola.In 1975, photographer Eric Meola captured an image of Bruce
Springsteen and Clarence Clemons that would become one of the
most iconic album covers of all time. That album, Born to Run, was
the last that manager and “stone-cold believer” Mike Appel would
have a hand in producing with Springsteen before their infamous
legal rift.
Some 34 years later, Meola was astounded to discover that the
rift, somehow, appeared to have healed. Springsteen dedicated the
2009 Buffalo, NY performance of Greetings From Asbury Park, NJ to
his former manager: “the man who got me in the door. Mike Appel
is here tonight—Mike, this is for you.” At first, Meola honestly
thought it was a joke. Since they clearly had some catching up to do,
we asked Meola to take the wheel for the first Backstreets interview
with Mike Appel in 20 years.Click here to see and read entire spread with pictures.

Mike Appel interviewed and featured in the
March 2012 issue of South Jersey Magazine“We had a lot of concerts in South Jersey, Cherry Hill in particular,” says Appel. “It didn’t matter if Bruce was playing Mafia-tinged clubs or not. Everybody treated us very well and paid us what we needed to be paid. We only have good memories of those Cherry Hill dates. Any shows we did down there were way stronger than in New York City. I always say that the Philadelphia area is the epicenter of fanaticism for Bruce and the E Street Band. We had a great deal of support down there. They were great places for Bruce to keep performing and building his live show resume.”

Bruce Springsteen, Mike Appel and others take a look back to 1975 to talk about the writing and recording process and other events surrounding one of the greatest albums in the history of Rock n' Roll... Born To Run

Catch Bruce's former manager Mike Appel playing his favorite Springsteen songs
and talking about how he got Bruce on the covers of Time and Newsweek at the same time and much more om Bruce's early career. (1 hr)

Final show of Springsteen's "Working On A Dream Tour"
dedicated to Mike AppelFrom backstreets.comBut up next, they plowed forward, doing something they'd never done before — "Tonight! One time only!" — the Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J. album, start to finish. Whatever particular significance the night's album choice might wind up having — in terms of ending where they began, if tonight was indeed any kind of ending — went unspoken. Springsteen merely put the record in context, as he has with other album performances on this fall leg. "This was the miracle," he said, "This was the record that took everything from way below zero to... one." That got a big laugh. Bruce went on to speak of John Hammond, "one of the great legends of music production," and of manager Mike Appel, whose "incredible talking" got him a crucial audition with said legend. Tonight's album performance was dedicated "to the man who got me in the door. Mike Appel is here tonight — Mike, this is for you." He added, "We've never done it... hope we can do it!"